Adrian Campos

Adrian Campos

17/6/1960

A wealthy Spanish Formula One driver who enjoyed little success with Minardi. Now run his own team in GP2.

Adrián Campos Suñer was born in Alcira, Valencia. Heir to a vast Spanish ice cream and frozen chicken fortune through Avidesa, the family business, he started racing in 1983 in Formula Seat with a car he had built in the Avidesa factory.

He then built the Avidesa 383 a Formula 3 car with Alfa Romeo power. He took this car to the UK and entered the 1983 British F3 championship. He failed to score any points.

In 1984 he purchased a drive with Volkswagen Motorsport in the European Formula 3 series in 1984, managing a win in one of the heats at the Monza Lotteria.

For 1985, Volkswagen Motorsport ran Campos in the German F3 series alongside Kris Nissen in Ralt RT30s. With remarkable consistency, Campos finished in the top 5 in all but three rounds, finishing 3rd overall on 128 points. Volker Weidler won the Championship with 195.

In 1986, Campos drove for Peter Gethin Racing in a March 86B/Cosworth and a Lola T86/50. His results were uninspiring, failing to qualify three times, spinning off twice, running out of fuel once, being too ill to race at Mugello, managing a 16th at Silverstone, and winning a single point for 6th at Jarama.

He also drove in a round of the World Sportscar Championship at Jerez, driving a John Fitzpatrick Porsche 962C with Paco Romero. They're race ended with a crash.

1987 saw Adrián move to F1 with Minardi alongside Alessandro Nannini. With backing from Lois jeans he raced until the middle of 1988 when he was replaced by Pierluigi Martini. He only completed two of the 21 races he entered.

He went on to a successful career in touring cars and became the Spanish Touring Car Champion of 1994. He made a few appearances in sports prototypes in 1997, joining Michel Ferte and Charles Nearburg in the Pilot Racing Ferrari 333SP for Le Mans. They failed to finish when they ran out of fuel. He teamed up with Ferte for further races in the International Sports Racing Series, running out of fuel again at Donington and retiring with a misfire at Zolder.

He retired and set up Adrian Campos Racing to run up and coming Spanish drivers in the Open Fortuna series, a one-make championship using a Coloni chassis with Nissan power. His first driver Marc Gene won the title and landed a drive with Minardi in F1 in 1999 while his second champion Fernando Alonso also moved up to Minardi and from there to Renault.

Campos Motorsport has now moved up to GP2.

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Born on the same day.

The following drivers were born on the same day as Adrian Campos (26th - September)